Protecting the future, unknown
by CharlieWise
Summary: The whole team including Ziva is back to work after the summer, Palmer asked them for help when children are being kidnapped at the orphanage Breena and him are trying to adopt a child, it changes things drastically for Tony. Co-authored by the amazing PurpleJelloTIVA
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: PurpleJelloTIVA and I started this story just after the season finale, but because of work, vacation and the sad news that Cote is leaving the show kind of put this on the backburner. Now however we are back and excited again about this story in which Ziva is not leaving NCIS. **

It felt good to be back, the four months of not working at NCIS had been... interesting to say the least. It was the third week since they had been reinstated and Ziva finally felt like things were back to normal. She walked out of the elevator towards their part of the bullpen. After a few minutes of sitting in the silent bullpen (empty due to the early hour) she noticed the Israeli flag in her penholder. She slowly took it from it's place and looked at it and her heart ached for a moment. Her home country pulling at the heartstrings, almost begging her to come back, even though she knew there was next to nothing left there for her. As the homesickness disappeared it was replaced by a wave of sadness. Her father, her family, still on her mind as she looked at the small piece of memorabilia.

She looked up to see the American flag resting in her partner's penholder opposite her. She walked up to it, the Israeli flag resting in between her fingers. She picked up Tony's flag and looked at it. The last time she had seen these flags was the day Tim, Tony and she had resigned from NCIS. She had not given them any thought in the past four months. Tony probably took them with him. She smiled fondly at the fact that Tony had probably kept both flags safe. Without giving it any more thought, she placed the Israeli flag into Tony's penholder and picked up the American flag to put on her own desk. A small act of symbolism. 

She liked it this way. Her flag, the memories of her family, safely encompassed in the bubble of Tony's desk. The American flag, her new family, a solid reminder that she was no longer alone now a constant, at her desk. The flags chartered Ziva's journey over the last few months to the last real time she had felt truly alone, after her fathers death to the mess with Bodnar, Parsons and ultimately Tony. Ziva stopped to consider how much had changed over the last 5 months, since the last time she had glanced at the small souvenirs. 

- FLASHBACK - 

"I can't believe how much stuff I have here." Tony said as he finally emptied out his last drawer and either threw things in the trash or in one of the two boxes that was standing on his desk, well his former desk, he realized with a heavy heart. 

"You've been working here for more than ten years, yes? You are bound to accumalate some items of a personal nature." Ziva said as she too closed the last drawer, she had only one box, testament of her ability to keep personal and professional lives seperate. McGee had left an hour ago; after Vance had come down to thank them. He had much less paperwork to sort through because of his computer based system. Ziva could've finished hours before, but Tony had picked her up because her new car was at the garage. Something with the clutch was off. So she just lingered, taking her time to get all her papers sorted and filed away. 

"You almost ready to go?" Tony asked looking around the bullpen making sure he hadn't forgotten anything. 

"Yes I believe so." Ziva replied with a sigh. 

Tony gave a small reassuring smile, which would usually make her feel comforted. However, at that moment, they both knew that their futures were uncertain, that even though the plan would be to get their jobs back, there were no guarantees. They never had those with their chosen profession. 

"Oh, I almost forgot." Tony said as he picked up both Ziva's Israeli flag and his own American flag. Putting them both in one of his boxes. Ziva raised an eye at him. "It seems a shame to split them up don't you think?" 

For no reason at all, Ziva felt heart heartbeat increase, and it became slightly harder to catch her breath; because that was exactly what was happening. They were splitting up, they would not come into work every morning anymore. It suddenly hit her that Tony would not be there every morning, either annoying her or cheering her up or as he did mostly both. 

"You ready?" Tony asked again turning around after stacking both his boxes and picking them up, having missed all the emotions that played across her face just moments before. Ziva nodded as she took her own box from her former desk and walked with Tony to the elevator. It was late in the afternoon and just like when Tim left the rest of the personnel still in the bullpen started clapping. Their way of thanking them for all their work and as a final goodbye. 

Ziva looked on as Tony smiled brightly, pretending to soak up the attention that he so constantly craved from his colleagues. Tim had not acknowledged the praise, and Ziva knew this was Tony's way of fooling people into thinking he was okay with how events were unfolding. Ziva nodded to a few people and then quickly pushed the button to the elevator. The door pinged almost immediately as they slid open. Ziva heard Tony yell some last comment, no doubt a quote from a classic movie, appropriate to the situation.

The ride in the elevator was silent, as was the walk to Tony's car that he borrowed from a friend and as they pulled out of the NCIS car park for the last time. Tony put the radio on in an attempt to break the silence that rested between them. The silence wasn't really uncomfortable but both were just not in the mood to keep up idle chitchat.

"Did you mean what you said?" Ziva asked suddenly out of nowhere. Tony shot her a quick glance to see if he could gauge to what she was referring. He could see in just that one glance that something was bothering her and that she needed to figure that out. But unlike any other time, Tony could not read it in Ziva's eyes and gave her the time to collect her thoughts.

"What do you mean?" Tony responded and spared her another glance, but that did not give him any more information. Tony looked back at the road, cursing his sudden luck they had not hit one red light and traffic was unusually light.

He was hoping for a reason to stop, so he could take the time to really pay attention to her. He wasn't completely back into his comfort zone whilst driving after the accident.

Ziva stayed silent for a moment, not sure if she wanted to go on. She had hoped Tony would have known to what she was referring. The past half year she had noticed that in times like these Tony knew the right thing to say and she needed that right now. "I meant, did you mean what you said in the woods the yesterday?"

"I meant everything I said." Tony spoke softly and instead of waiting for a red-light he just stopped at the side of the road for a moment, just 5 minutes away from Ziva's apartment. Tony turrned to face her, "Ziva what's this about?" 

Ziva looked up at him, taking in his familiar face once again. His handsome features that came to life when accompanied by the traditional Dinozzo grin. His warm green eyes looking at her, full of emotion. "I just do not feel like being alone, now." 

"Dinner and a movie?" Tony responded. A simple question that held a lot of weight. 

"Sure." She answered him looking away. 

"My place or yours?" Tony asked simply as he started the car and moved back into the road, having to stop immediately because of a red-light. "Seriously?" Tony whispered angrily 

"Yours." Ziva chuckled. "Can I just drop my boxes off and gather some things?" 

"Of course." Tony said. The journey took a further 10 minutes because now the traffic lights had decided to cruelly work against him and turn to red.

When Ziva returned with a big shoulder bag, Tony figured out how much Ziva didn't want to be alone. Ziva rarely brought a purse anywhere, so that meant that there were clothes in this bag. The ride to Tony's apartment was spent discussing which movie they were going to watch. That discussion was not finished when they entered Tony's home, they did however settle on Chinese food for dinner.

Ziva ordered the food as Tony went around to put all his personal items that he used to keep in his desk, away in his bedroom. Any spare clothes he had kept at work went immediately into his hamper, before making his way back into the living room.

By the time the food arrived they finally decided which movie they were going to watch, but decided to eat first. That way the would not have to leave the dirty dishes out till the end of the movie. 

"Hey watch it." Ziva said as Tony splashed some water at Ziva while rinsing their plates. Tony just laughed but his smile died down as he saw Ziva's face fall. 

"You okay?" Ziva put down her towel and walked away from him, giving Tony his answer, Tony placed the last dish in the rack and began to follow her. 

"Ziva..." Tony started, Ziva had made her way into the living room and sat on the couch her legs tucked under herself. It was obvious to Tony though that Ziva was not quite ready to talk as soon as he sat down next to her, she was up and walking around again. 

"I'm worried, about Gibbs." Ziva answered, suddenly sounding anxious.

"It's Gibbs, he'll be fine." Tony responded shrugging his shoulders, but seeing Ziva's reaction he knew that response wasn't quite what she was hoping for.

"Tony, he is alone now, he does not have us to have his back." Ziva pushed on walking back towards the couch.

"Ziva, he's a trained marine sniper, with a gut that never fails him. He knows how to take care of himself." Tony felt the need to reach out for her but her body language suggested he needed to leave her alone.

She let out a grunt. Why couldn't Tony understand? "Tony I cannot lose him. I already lost one father."

This time Tony couldn't help himself and his hand shot out to take a hold of hers. "Ziva I promise you, we'll find a way to have Gibbs' back and keep him safe. Okay?"

At that Ziva's shoulders slumped and she looked up at the ceiling for a few moments before closing her eyes. Feeling the adrenaline leave her body and then Tony tug on her hand, Ziva finally looked down at Tony.

"Now what you need to do, is come sit next to me and watch this movie with me. We'll figure everything out tomorrow. Now we just enjoy having the night off, without the threat of a call at 2am" His DiNozzo grin in place and Ziva couldn't help but smile back at him, she dropped down next to him sighing. 

"Come here." He said softly and Ziva looked at him for a moment before leaning against him. Pulling her legs up below her and resting her head on his shoulder. His arm sneaked around her and pulled her even closer. He pressed play on the movie and as the first music started to play she felt him kiss the top of her head.

"Nothing awkward." They both noticed how he did not refer back to the friendship comment and Ziva smiled slightly before arranging herself more comfortably against Tony's side.

- END FLASHBACK - 

"You're in early." Tony said as he placed his bag next to his desk. He was happy to be back again, even after three weeks it still brought a smile to his face entering the bullpen. He had gotten a new chair and he was slowly building up his collection of personal items in and on his desk again.

"Wanted to get an early start, what about you?" Ziva asked curiously as to what Tony was doing here at seven in the morning.

"Woke up early, so figured I would just get ready and get some work done." Tony answered as he noticed Ziva was holding the American flag in her hand. He wanted to ask what that was about until he noticed the Israeli flag in his penholder. He realized that she must have switched them. Ziva wanted to ask why he woke up early but never got the chance as Tim came walking in with a brisk good morning.

"Well good morning to you too, Mcmoody." Tony joked.

"I overslept, so I didn't get to have breakfast with Delilah." Tim said as he started up his computers.

"You do realize it's only 7 right?" Tony said.

"What?" Tim asked shocked looking from Tony to Ziva to get confirmation that Tony wasn't playing with him and Ziva nodded.

"Why are you both here then?" Tim asked, his brow creasing even further in confusion.

"Didn't sleep well." They both answered in unison and they looked at each other. Their eyes meeting, both knowing why the other one had trouble sleeping.

**A/N: So this was chapter one! Let us know what you think, the next chapter is already written but we always love your feedback or if you want to chat about the show or Cote and we will always respond!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm so sorry! I can't believe it took us(It's really my fault) so long to update! It's first week of school and I've been teaching and preparing all my lessons the past week and haven't had much time to do anything else then that! **

**Anyway without any further delay here is chapter two! **

The one thing Tony had not missed about his work at NCIS were the hours they kept. When he first started working there he had no problem with two hours of sleep at night, sometimes even less. He loved working at night, he would have had a nice evening with his friends or an even nicer lady and then he would get into work for another few hours before going home and a nap before bounding in at the crack of dawn again. Now 12 years later he was just not able to keep up with the disruptions to his need for a good solid sleep cycle.

Not that he wanted too, but it would have been nice as he finally shut down his computer at 23:45 and had to be back in at 7:30 to be that young thirty something. 

"You heading out too?" Ziva asked as she looked up from taking her gun from her drawer to Tony who was doing the same.

"Yeah" He responded with a sigh as he picked up his backpack. They had gotten a case that morning. Just after McGee had gathered up all his stuff and was about to walk back to the elevator when Gibbs came in, cup of coffee in his hand. Everything pointed to it being suicide but the husband would not believe it. That together with the fact that NCIS investigate every suicide as a murder had them combing through every inch of the Lieutenant Granger's life.

"Did you figure out where the twenty grand went?" Ziva asked as they walked towards the elevator, reffering to the 20,000 dollers the Lieutenant had gotten out of the bank before supposedly killing herself.

"No, talked to the bank employee that carried out the transaction. He said she was planning on taking an vacation with her husband." Tony shrugged his shoulders tired of the long day and even longer nights he had been having since they returned back to work.

A silence fell over them as they both pondered the fate of the Lieutenant. What could have transpired in the life of the Lieutenant that resulted in her untimely death?

"I just hope we finish the case before Friday." Tony said as they exited the elevator and made their way outside to the parking lot. "I do not want to be the one that has to tell Abby team night is cancelled."

Ziva chuckled. "Do you remember us having to reschedule because of that protection detail of that Keller case witness."

"How could I forget." Tony said looking at her. "I guess I understand, she was just scared we would all grow apart and never see each other again. She wouldn't have been Abby if she hadn't shown up with McGee at our stakeout car."

"No she would not." Ziva said looking back at him as they paused by their respective cars.

Both of them remembering back to that first team night, after their sudden resignations. It was also the second time Ziva spent the night at his place.

-FLASHBACK-

"Tony, Tony, Tony." Abby shrieked as Tony picked up the phone as he was scrolling down 'Searching for a job? You've come to the right place.' site. The site itself however was just as terrible as it's slogan. 

"Hi Abs." He returned smiling at his phone. 

"We haven't seen each other in ages. We need to meet." Abby responded enthusiastically. He could practically see her jumping up and down in her lab of excitement.

"What are you talking about Abs, we had lunch two days ago." Tony had to wait for a response, because he heard another agent come in at Abbys end. If Tony was correct he could hear Agent Highem come into her lab. He felt a rush a jealousy come over him as he heard him ask about details on a case. Tony started to chuckle which soon turned into a full blown laugh as he heard Abby stating quite tersly that no she did not have the DNA a mere 2 hours after been asked to run the analysis. The yelp of pain was probably Agent Highem as he was being pulled back by his ear by Abby. Telling him that just because she didn't have the DNA results it didn't mean she had nothing. 

"I can't believe you all left me to work with Agent Highem and his team."

"Didn't have much of a choice Abs." Tony replied still smirking

"There is always a choice. So when are we going to meet." Abby asked sounding impatient

"Friday?" Tony asked as he clicked away the job hunting site and leaned back in his chair.

"Good, McGee is free then too, Ducky and Jimmy get off at 5 p.m. unless a body is gets called in. Maybe even Gibbs might be back, I'm just not sure about Ziva, I'll give her a call." Abby responded cheerfully.

"Sounds great." Tony said a little sarcastically because he was somewhat disappointed in the fact that he could still not find a job.

Abby was to excited about the fact that everyone was available for a team night to hear the disappointment in his tone. "Good, so we'll all see you at your place, say six thirty?"

"My place? Why?" Tony asked shooting into an upright position.

"Because you'll have the best movie selection for after dinner. I'll go call Ziva bye!" Abby said and with that she was gone.

Tony wanted to call her back immediately to keep Abby from calling everyone, but before he got the chance his phone rang again.

"Hey Paul, whats' up." Tony said as he picked up the phone. He'd met Paul in freshman year in college during the inauguration of their fraternity.

"I'm good, hey listen man. I'll be back in the city in two weeks so I need my car back for the weekend." Paul spoke on the other end of the phone.

Tony stood up and took a quick look outside to Paul's BMW currently parked in front of his apartment. Paul worked overseas 11 months out of the year so when Tony told him what happened with his car, Paul had quickly offered his car. "That's fine man, don't have a job to go to anyway." Tony joked.

"What? What happened to your job at NCIS?" Paul asked shocked.

"I resigned, I'll tell you over a beer when you're here." Tony responded keeping his voice joyful even though the job searching was getting to him.

"Well, if you're not working can I ask you a favour?"

"If you're gonna ask me to chauffeur you around you've been overseas for to long my friend." Tony said chuckling.

"No, No, well not exactly. I just bought a few factory's in china and my company is getting some threats. My security tell me not to worry, but I got a threat on my personal e-mail which were directed at me. Is it possible for you to do some extra security for me and maybe even figure out who is sending those threats?" Paul asked.

"I don't know if I'm the right guy for that Paul." Tony responded.

"Look Tony, you need a job and I'll pay you. I want someone I trust on this." Paul said persistently.

"Okay, sure man. Just send me all the information you have and I'll have a look and sent me your travel arrangements for that weekend and I'll check the security risks of all the places." Tony said sitting back down behind his computer.

"I will." Paul said and Tony heard Paul talking to someone else. "You should have everything within a few minutes. I got to go man. We'll catch up later."

The line went dead before Tony could even say bye. Not that he could blame him, the amount of times Tony had to hang up quickly because of his job, well former job, were too many to count.

Tony redialled Abby's number to see about changing the place of the movie night when a text came in.

_Team night at your place? Do you want to borrow my cookbooks? see you Friday. Z_

A smile formed on his face and he shook his head. Maybe team nights at his place wouldn't be so bad he thought as he got up to find his moms old cookbook.

Two days later Tony found himself in front of the Four Point Hotel, he looked at the street around them and realized he was not sure how to protect Paul in open areas. He knew Paul's apartment and office building were both pretty secure. He just needed to figure out the streets. Tony had reviewed the threats that had been made to the company. They were all pretty vague and typical but Tony did not expect anyone of the writers to act on them. The two personal threats to Paul's personal email were a lot different and he understood why Paul had requested the extra security.

"Tony, why did you ask me to meet you here?" Ziva asked as she came around the corner of 12th street.

"Ziva, I need you to kill me?" Tony said still looking around the street.

"Excuse me?" Ziva asked but got no response. "Tony, why are we here?"

That familiar phrase got his attention. His head snapped to her, but he was not sure she recognized what she said, if she did her face showed nothing but annoyance at being summoned here early on a Friday morning. "Couldn't do this without you, I guess." Tony answered and saw the slightly annoyed look crack, her eyes went wide and her heart sank. Ziva was immediately hit with the urge to reach out to him.

Tony felt bad; he hadn't meant to bring up those memories. The words just left his mouth as he thought back to that horrible summer so long ago. He was about to apologize, screw rule 6, but Ziva was faster.

"Why did you ask me to meet you here? There has to be a purpose. yes?" Ziva asked, her steely resolve back in place and Tony sighed. Good job DiNozzo. You finally see her again after almost two weeks and you manage to bring those walls up within two minutes.

"Yes, my buddy Paul called me, asked me to do some security for him. I know how to protect him inside, I just need some help with the out in the open stuff." Tony said mentioning with his hands to the street. "I was hoping you would be willing to help me?" 

Tony looked at Ziva as she thought about it. He could see her scrunch up her nose in that cute way, just a little bit as she considered his offer. "We did make a good team, once." Tony added with a grin.

"You make it sound like it was years ago." Ziva said as she thought back to the past eight years of her life, she couldn't help the smile that formed on her face. "I can help."

"Yeah?" Tony asked his grin turning into a full-fledged smile. After a nod from her he added. "Okay so how would you kill me?"

"Sniper on one of these three buildings, my preference going to that one." Ziva said pointing to the building across the intersection. "It would give me a good vantage points to both sides of the entrance. I could come in through the building next door, and skip roofs and come in that way, I won't be see by camera's. If I wanted messy I could do some chemical agent, but if I just wanted to kill one man. I would probably go with my first option."

Tony nodded following her as she pointed out the different spots she could set up from. Until he looked back at her, she was still explaining possible scenarios, but he couldn't focus on her words anymore. He was suddenly in complete awe of this woman. She was wearing black jeans a off white shirt and a light brown jacket. Nothing special but she looked beautiful none the less. He was struck with the image they must portray to other people. Would anyone guess that if for some reason they would get attacked they would both be able to save themselves and each other. Would they guess that she would be more efficient in it. Would they see the power this woman held within her body and after seeing it. Would they still see the beauty?

"Tony?" Ziva asked for the third time.

"Sorry, so underground parking garage is a better idea?" Tony responded, grin back in place and even though Ziva still looked at him suspiciously she let it go.

"Probably. Let's check it out." Ziva said as she turned towards the parking garage.

They spent the rest of the day checking out the surrounding streets calling it quits at around 4pm, Tony really needed to get back to his apartment if he wanted dinner to be ready in time. As Tony thought back on his day, his overall conclusion was, he had fun..

- TIVA-

When Tony walked into his living room with two bowls off popcorn he was struck with how comfortable he was with the rest of the team here. He had always seen his place as a place of sanctuary, to get away from everything and just clear his head and if that didn't work watch a movie to drown out all the problems, not to mention alcohol. But now, having been here almost 24/7 in the past two weeks he noticed that his aparment did feel like a sanctuary, but never like a home. The reason he'd never noticed before was because NCIS was his home. Now with the team here, Abby in the middle and Ziva in the corner on the couch, Palmer and McGee on the ground and Ducky in one of the chairs from his dinning room table, his apartment did feel like a home.

"Hurry up Tony, I want to see the movie." Abby said, tapping the empty space beside her for him to sit down. Tony's eyes shot to Ziva for just a second as he sat down next to Abby, placing the two bowls of popcorn on the table. Tony's arm went over the back of the couch as his other pressed play on the movie. Abby had picked it out, but it was the same movie that Ziva and Tony had seen the day that they had resigned. 

Tony didn't mind, every movie he owned he had seen more than once already. Ziva had enjoyed the movie last time so she didn't mind watching it again. Abby had been so enthusiastic about it, so when the rest of the team agreed Tony and Ziva didn't protest.

Tony looked around him as he saw how the team was fully engrossed in the movie, even Ziva, who'd just seen it, was looking intently at the blockbuster playing on his TV. Tony bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing before he quickly tapped Ziva's shoulder before pretending to be paying attention to the movie. Ziva looked at him, not being able to keep the smile from appearing on her face at his childlike antics.

When Tony turned back to look at her, Ziva had turned back to the movie. Her smile just a little clearer then it had been before. Out of the corner of her eye Ziva could see Tony had turned back to look at her, getting herself ready to strike if necessary she suddenly felt Tony play with her head instead of tapping her shoulder again. She felt herself relax as he twirled her hair around one of his fingers.

As the movie continued Ziva was getting more and more distracted by Tony, when the movie ended Ziva only noticed because Tony pulled his hand back immediately, before anyone could turn around and see what he was doing. Ziva felt her heart grow a little heavier and her stomach dropped a little as Tony stood up.

"Yeah, so do you guys want to see another movie?" Tony spoke cheerfully glancing at Ziva, before putting his hands in his pockets. Tony thought that if he did not they might reach out on their own accord again.

"Not for me, Breena is expecting me home." Palmer said as he stood up from the ground.

"It was a pleasure Anthony, but I to have to get home." Ducky added as he too, went to get his coat.

"I promised Delilah, I would come by." McGee said after he had gotten up.

"What, now that you're McBoyfriend, we're not good enough anymore." Tony reacted hurtfull.

"Awh, leave the man be, Anthony. We all know what it means to be in love." Ducky said as he place his hat on the top of his head.

"Tony I'll help you with the dishes before I've to leave to help the nuns for a special rememberence midnight mass." Abby said cheerfully.

"Abby, how about I help him and you go to the nuns." Ziva offered and the nuns must have really needed Abby's help, because she conceded without any further comments.

"I'll start the soap." Ziva said as Tony closed the door after everyone had left. It had felt strangely domestic, both of them waving as their friends left,leaving them both to clean up, together.

"The dishes aren't going to clean themselves." Tony heard Ziva say from the kitchen, he chuckled before joining her.

"Ziva you just have to be paitent and let the water work it's magic." Tony said laughinly as Ziva tried but failed to clean the oven lasagne dish. He took it from her and placed some extra soap in in it before putting it back under water.

"We'll just let it soak for a while." Tony said as he walked back to his living room and dropped down on the couch. Ziva followed but lingered just on the threshold of the living room.

"What was in that lasagne anyway?" Ziva asked as she thought back at the interesting but tasty lasagne.

Tony chuckled. "Shoarma, I know, when I saw the recept I thought it was crazy." Tony said turning on the couch to grab the recipe book behind it in the closet.

"What changed your mind?" Ziva asked..

"This." Tony answered softly.

"What is it." Ziva asked as she sat down beside him, their knees brushing together as Tony handed the book over to her.

"It's my moms recipe book. I was flipping through it and I found this one rather quickly" Tony said mentioning for her to open it.

Ziva did as he said and opened it at the clearly ear marked page. There it was, in neat handwriting. If Ziva was honest with herself, if anyone told her that this recipe would taste that good she would not have believed them. The mix of ingredients just didn't appeal to her, in truth however they mixed perfectly.

"Even though I don't know much about cooking, I figured that this would never work until I turned the page." Tony said and Ziva looked at him for a moment, wondering what on that next page could get his eyes to tear up like that. She turned the page before pulling her gaze away from his eyes back to the book.

_I have to remember this one, Tony ate two plates of this. He's growing up so fast, I just want more time with him. I wish I could just freeze time and let him be seven for seven years. I would show him all the movies in the world, while making him this lasagne, he loved it so much. _

Ziva felt her own eyes water as she read the message Tony's mother had written to herself. She looked back up at him and he smiled softly, one of those rare smiles, one that's just pure him, no underlying joke, no sarcastic remark, no charm behind it. Just him enjoying a happy memory.

"Are there more notes?" Ziva asked after a moment. Shock immediately registered on Tony's face. He realized he hadn't checked, he didn't know. When he found that recipe and that note he was just focused on following the instructions.

"I don't know." Tony whispered as his eyes shot to the book in Ziva's hand, not sure if he wanted to find out.

"You want to find out?" Ziva asked turning to the next page, but Tony closed the book quickly and took it from her hands. This time it was Ziva who was shocked, having not expected him to act like this.

"It's getting late, maybe I should leave." Ziva spoke as she got up from the couch only to be stopped by Tony.

"Ziva, wait, I'm sorry. I just." Tony said looking Ziva in her eyes. Trying to convey the rest of what he wanted to say with his eyes. How he didn't know what to expect, he was not sure if he was anxious about the fact that there might not be any more notes or that the might be more. The thing he was sure of was that he didn't want to face it alone.

"We can look at it together." Ziva answered the questions that she saw swirling around in his eyes, waited for him to nod before she sat back down fully.

Tony sat there with the book in his lap, still not sure how to continue. After a few minutes he felt Ziva shift and pull her legs under her, before leaning against him and putting her head on his shoulder. Her hand falling on his bicep, she squeezed it for support. That was the last push Tony needed and he opened the book. 

By the time they got to the last page, they were both feeling drained. Ziva could only imagine the emotional rollercoaster Tony went through as he read the notes his mother left herself at each recipe. Ziva noticed every single mood swing with every single note. As Tony placed it on the coffee table the only thing he said was. 

"Stay?" 

Ziva didn't answer out loud, she just nodded and snuggled closer to him as Tony turned them to lay down. Tony looked down at her before closing his eyes, falling asleep within minutes. Ziva stayed awake for a few more minutes to look at him, when she finally felt her own eyelids give in she turned her head to let it rest on his chest. The book and the last note being the last thing on her mind.

_I hope Tony doesn't notice my tastebuds don't work as well anymore. He still appears to like whatever I make him. Senior teases me about it, telling me I put to much thought into what an eight year old thinks. I just want him to be happy._

-END FLASHBACK-

"Well I guess we just have to work twice as hard tomorrow to make sure we make team night." Tony said chipper. 

"Well, how about we go talk to the Lieutenants CO again tomorrow?" 

"Sounds like a plan. See you tomorrow."

"Night."

"Night." With that they both got into their own respective car and drove home to their own beds for another night of restless sleep.

**A/N: So that was chapter two! Let us know what you think about our story, We'll answer all of them! Or if you just want to talk about NCIS you can sent us a message about that too! **


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